An Albanian court ordered on Saturday to place former president and prime minister Sali Berisha under house arrest following corruption charges related to his time in office, News.ro reported with reference to Reuters.

Berisha is banned from leaving the country, said his lawyer Genc Gyokutay, who announced that his client will appeal the court’s decision.

Prosecutors accuse 79-year-old Sali Berisha of using his influence as prime minister between 2005 and 2009 to favor his daughter’s husband in the privatization of state-owned land. The prosecutor’s office has not yet filed a final indictment.

Berisha now heads Albania’s largest opposition party, the Democratic Party, and accuses current Prime Minister Edi Rama of ordering a political attack to silence the opposition. He denies his guilt.

Berisha was Albania’s president from 1992 to 1997, following the violent collapse of communism in the impoverished southwestern Balkan country, and then prime minister from 2005 to 2013.

In 2021, the US banned Sali Berisha and his family from entering the country, and the State Department accused him of engaging in “corrupt actions” while serving as prime minister, using his power for his own interests and to enrich their relatives and political allies.